The Voice of the Piano

A piano technician's definitive guide to voicing

André Oorebeek

About
the Book and DVD

The Voice of the Piano is unique in that it is the only book
devoted entirely to piano hammers and voicing. Veteran concert technician,
“tone warrior” and self-professed “hammer man” André Oorebeek does what
no other world class voicing technician has done before: he takes us behind
the scenes and creates for us a step-by-step map for the complete voicing
process of piano hammers.

The Voice of the Piano Goes Global
French and Japanese editions now available!
Read more...

Voicing Book Goes Global

André Oorebeek's acclaimed hammer voicing book “The Voice of the Piano” is
attracting overseas attention. The book with its companion DVD was originally
published in Canada in 2009 by Crescendo Publications, the book division of
Piano Forte Supply. The book is now being translated into French and Japanese.

“Foreign language licensing negotiations had been going on for some time,”
publisher Jurgen Goering disclosed. “We are now happy to announce the imminent
publication of both a French and Japanese language edition.”

The French edition, called “La Voix du Piano” was translated by Marc Valdeyron
and will be published in conjunction with ITEMM, the French piano technician
training center in Paris. Valdeyron is the translator of Art Reblitz's “Piano
Tuning, Repairing and Servicing” and is a piano technician in his own right.
The book has already gone to print and will be later in 2011.

The Japanese translation was taken on by Yoshitake Suzuki, Director at Yamaha
USA's Piano Service Department. Suzuki and Oorebeek have a common history going
back to the 1980's. They first met at the Yamaha Piano Academy where they underwent
the rigours of that training program together.

André Oorebeck has taught extremely successful full day seminars on voicing
at the past three Annual Piano Technician's Guild conventions. After the most
recent seminar in Kansas City in July of 2011, the author and his two friends,
the translator of the Japanese version and the publisher of the English version,
met to celebrate the success of the book.

“The Voice of the Piano” has been distributed into well over 20 countries
in the English version, according to the publisher, Jurgen Goering. These two
foreign language translations not only open up new markets for the book and
DVD, they confirm the value and importance of the material presented by Oorebeek.
“We are thrilled by these developments which will allow more piano technicians
around the world to enhance their voicing skills,” says Goering.

description of the required tools and materials and how to
use and apply them

where and how
to needle to achieve the desired effect

what to watch and listen and
feel for

how to work the hammers with files, needles and other tools.

Click on the thumbnails below to see photos from the book.

A Page from The Voice of the Piano

Felt strip cut to shape for pressing

Renner Hammer Press

Long voicing block

Battery voicing

Using a small file

Voicing the lower side of the hammers on a vertical action

Oorebeek leads the reader
through the voicing process in detail. It is not just the hammers
that are the focus of a skilled voicer; the strings, soundboard, the regulation,
the whole instrument as well as the acoustic space and the owner’s preferences
and idiosyncrasies must all be taken into account. Indeed, this is the
holistic approach to voicing.

Of special note is the included DVD: 45 minutes of real voicing instruction,
not just supporting the information in the book but also showing many
tricks and skills that cannot readily be described accurately. One can
literally watch as the piano tone develops from a raw sound to a dignified
blend of “power and silk”, as the author calls it.

The author holds back no secrets. Everything is spelled out very clearly
in this engaging book.

Not a “print-on-demand” product, The Voice of
the Piano is ink printed on quality gloss paper (60% post-consumer
waste) with lavish color photos and a hard cover binding.